196 FROM PANAMA TO BODEGAS. 



vies in picturesqueness Avith that of Naples and Rio Janei- 

 ro, set with islands resting upon their reflection in the sil- 

 vered water, was invested with a beauty only to be found 

 beneath a tropical sky. As the land slowly withdrew into 

 the rich, mellow haze, we fell to watching the bright 

 sparkle of the moonlight upon the ripj^ling water, and the 

 dull, phosphorescent gleam playing in our wake, born 

 from the myriads of animalcula which swarm these 

 waters.* Each evening we observed with interest the 

 familiar constellations of the northern heavens, as night 

 by night they took a lower position, and new clusters ap- 

 peared above the southern horizon. Just before we crossed 

 the equator, the polar star, which we had watched as the 

 last heaven-mark of our northern home, sank from our 

 view. 



In passing from the Atlantic to the Pacific, we left be- 

 hind us those storms and sudden squalls which render 

 navigation so unpleasant upon northern waters. The days 

 were uniformly pleasant, the nights clear and beautiful, 

 and the heat of a vertical sun was tempered by the strong 

 trade- winds which met its constantly from the south. The 

 third day from Panama we passed the point of St. Helena, 

 the most western cape of Ecuador (or Equator), which 

 presents the appearance of a vast artificial fortification 

 frowning threateningly upon the opening bay of Guaya- 

 quil. The morning of the 14th we were abreast the Peru- 

 vian coast. The long line of crumbling, gray clifis re- 

 ceded into verdureless plains, relieved only by narrow 

 bauds of vegetation which marked the course of some little 

 stream, fed by the moister heights of the Cordilleras. In 

 vain the traveller looks for the towering ranges of the 

 Andes, for heavy clouds hang enviously about them. 



* Phosphorescence has been generally supposed to be the product of 

 the vital force possessed by microscopic organisrcs. Darwin, however, 

 supposes it to he the result of the decomposition of the organic particles. 



